Wednesday, December 10, 2008

This is a mockup of a crew token- the little symbols that show up on the ship decks to represent the NPC crew members.

The one in the top right corner is the largest that this ever appears in-game unless we allow zooming in beyond 100%. This is of course just a mockup, and the final will look better- I also plan to make smaller versions of this to trade out for use in zoomed-out states (because the current one isn't readable if one zooms out).

It contains several factors:

Alpha numeric title- to reference the particular crew member.

ECG, or heart beat monitor below the title- this will be animated- naturally, a flat-line is bad, too high frequency is bad (or indicates excitement/adrenaline)- where it is right now it alright.

Radiation exposure- this is very bad, one wants this bar to stay solid black, but this isn't always possible. This person has had a very nearly lethal dose of radiation, and will probably be very sick. Radiation has a delayed onset, so even a guaranteed lethal dose (beyond the halfway point) does not kill immediately, but several minutes later.

Integrity meter- this is the little gauge at the bottom center- high is good here, which means the body is in one piece. Where it is now indicates that the person is somewhat wounded, straight up would usually be highly wounded and incapacitated, to the left would be severely hurt- massive blood loss, crushed bones, etc. which need medical attention. Further to the left, opposite of where it is now, at the first tick or below, indicates impending death and need for urgent medical attention to prevent it. All of the way down indicates completely obliterated (beyond the help of medical technology).

Lung meter- to either side of the blood pressure- this is slightly animated, and indicates rapidity of breath (by the speed of animation) and the amount of oxygen the person is getting. A bit higher than where it is on the meter right now is good... this person is short of breath. When a person is holding his or her breath, it starts mostly full, and ticks down slowly.

Colour- that's what the outer-ring is for. Actual crew tokens will contain two distinct colours, and will be able to have colour themes applied to them to help identify crew members by colour as well as title.